Interview with Paul Simpson, Managing Director, Visit Manchester 24 April 2012
inspire, engage, connect. Interview with Paul Simpson, Managing Director, Visit Manchester 24 April 2012 How is Visit Manchester delivering against the Strategic Framework objectives and in particular objective 2: To develop compelling destinations? Visit Manchester was created in 2004 following Marketing Manchester (created 1996) being given strategic responsibility for tourism in Greater Manchester by the Northwest Regional Development Agency. The Strategic Framework for England has helped develop our vision for Greater Manchester to be a more compelling destination. The Greater Manchester Destination Management Plan 2012-13 (which sits below the tourism strategy, ‘A Tourism Strategy for Greater Manchester 2008-13’) follows the Strategic Framework’s approach by establishing the following objectives: • create globally recognised and iconic events, developments, initiatives and opportunities; • ensure a better quality of life for the communities of Greater Manchester and the wider City Region; • make the practices of the City Region’s tourism sector a key plank of delivering against the Original Modern brand vision; • tackle the tough issues like wider community benefits through tourism; accessibility and diversity; a more inclusive night-time economy; • embark on a ‘blue skies’ strand of long range thinking that explores issues such as technological change, demographic shifts and environmental sustainability. Manchester’s key ingredients of success are: 1. Very strong civic leadership - there are 10 Local Authorities throughout the Greater Manchester area (Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Manchester, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan) and for many years they have worked in close collaboration with each other and with Marketing / Visit Manchester. There is very strong civic leadership that exists across Greater Manchester, particularly in the form of AGMA (Association of Greater Manchester Authorities).
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